EXECUTE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does execute mean? 

• EXECUTE (verb)
  The verb EXECUTE has 7 senses:

1. kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment

2. murder in a planned fashion

3. put in effect

4. carry out the legalities of

5. carry out a process or program, as on a computer or a machine

6. carry out or perform an action

7. sign in the presence of witnesses

  Familiarity information: EXECUTE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EXECUTE (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

execute; put to death

Context example:

In some states, criminals are executed

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

kill (cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly)

penalise; penalize; punish (impose a penalty on; inflict punishment on)

Verb group:

execute (murder in a planned fashion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

crucify (kill by nailing onto a cross)

burn (execute by tying to a stake and setting alight)

hang; string up (kill by hanging)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

They want to execute the prisoners

Derivation:

executing; execution (putting a condemned person to death)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Murder in a planned fashion

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

The Mafioso who collaborated with the police was executed

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

bump off; dispatch; hit; murder; off; polish off; remove; slay (kill intentionally and with premeditation)

Verb group:

execute; put to death (kill as a means of socially sanctioned punishment)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

execution (unlawful premeditated killing of a human being by a human being)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put in effect

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

accomplish; action; carry out; carry through; execute; fulfil; fulfill

Context example:

He actioned the operation

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

complete; finish (come or bring to a finish or an end)

effect; effectuate; set up (produce)

Verb group:

carry out; follow out; follow through; follow up; go through with; implement; put through (pursue to a conclusion or bring to a successful issue)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

run (carry out)

consummate (make perfect; bring to perfection)

consummate (fulfill sexually)

do; perform (get (something) done)

complete; discharge; dispatch (complete or carry out)

get over (to bring (a necessary but unpleasant task) to an end)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

execution (the act of accomplishing some aim or executing some order)

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Carry out the legalities of

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Context example:

execute a will or a deed

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

apply; enforce; implement (ensure observance of laws and rules)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

give (execute and deliver)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

execution ((law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable)

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

executor (a person appointed by a testator to carry out the terms of the will)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Carry out a process or program, as on a computer or a machine

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

execute; run

Context example:

the computer executed the instruction

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

apply; enforce; implement (ensure observance of laws and rules)

Verb group:

play; run (cause to emit recorded audio or video)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

step (cause (a computer) to execute a single command)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

executive (having the function of carrying out plans or orders etc.)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Carry out or perform an action

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

do; execute; perform

Context example:

she did a little dance

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "execute"):

scamp (perform hastily and carelessly)

make (perform or carry out)

conduct; direct; lead (lead, as in the performance of a composition)

interpret; render (give an interpretation or rendition of)

ad-lib; extemporise; extemporize; improvise; improvize (perform without preparation)

practice; practise; rehearse (engage in a rehearsal (of))

appear (appear as a character on stage or appear in a play, etc.)

star (be the star in a performance)

premier; premiere (perform a work for the first time)

churn out (perform in a mechanical way)

blaze away (perform (an acting passage) brilliantly and rapidly)

cut (perform or carry out)

stunt (perform a stunt or stunts)

cut corners (do something the cheapest or easiest way)

serenade (sing and play for somebody)

declaim; recite (recite in elocution)

pipe up (begin to play or sing)

carry (sing or play against other voices or parts)

click off (perform or finish an action rapidly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

executant (a performer (usually of musical works))

execution (the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Sign in the presence of witnesses

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The President executed the treaty

Hypernyms (to "execute" is one way to...):

sign (be engaged by a written agreement)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

This domain captures clinical sign information including ophthalmology, physical examination, and dermal examination collected in life while executing the study.

(Clinical Observation Domain, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

The device software contained code that could never be executed under any circumstance.

(Device Unreachable Code Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)

Issue associated with a therapy or algorithm not being delivered or executed at the expected time.

(Failure to Fire Medical Device Problem, Food and Drug Administration)

Execute or satisfy a request or order; supply or furnish.

(Fill, NCI Thesaurus)

But if a Bond, or any other description of security, would be preferred, I should be happy to execute any such instrument.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Applied to a problem-solving procedure implemented in software to be executed by a computer.

(Algorithm, NCI Thesaurus)

No. I had not been back to Woking between getting the order and executing the commission.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My master added, that he was daily pressed by the Houyhnhnms of the neighbourhood to have the assembly’s exhortation executed, which he could not put off much longer.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He spoke of miners' meetings, where all the men of a locality came together and made the law and executed the law.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today.

(Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby, NASA)